In January 2009, before the president signed his failed $787 billion stimulus bill into law, Barack Obama lectured America saying,
“Everyone must sacrifice for the greater good… Everyone must have some skin in the game.”
Everyone but Barack and Michelle Obama.
The Obamas hid an extravagant Halloween “Alice in Wonderland” party from the American public for fear of creating the wrong impression during the worst recession since the Great Depression.
More pictures here.
The Telegraph reported:
The White House covered up an Alice in Wonderland-themed Halloween party staged by film director Tim Burton and actor Johnny Depp for fear of creating the wrong impression during a recession, a new book on the Obamas has claimed.
Depp greeted guests in the costume he had worn in a film version of the Lewis Carroll story released around the same time by Burton, who was given carte blanche to transform the state dining room into a Mad Hatter’s tea party in “his signature creepy-comic style”.
A long table was “set with antique-looking linens, enormous stuffed animals in chairs, and tiered serving plates with treats like bone-shaped meringue cookies”, writes New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor in The Obamas, which is released on Tuesday. Fruit punch was served in blood vials at the bar, she adds.
George Lucas sent Chewbacca from Star Wars to mingle with invited guests, who included the Obamas’ two daughters Malia and Sasha and friends, the children of White House staff members and military families.
The White House press corps was allowed to report on more modest festivities earlier that day for Washington-area school children, but did not release details of the more glamorous festivities that occurred later for what was the Obamas’ first Halloween in office in 2009.
UPDATE: Verum Serum has pictures from the bash.
